Summary

Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on an Oslo street. Suddenly a musician falls dead, shot at point-blank range. Hole--the police department's best investigator and worst civil servant--has no suspect, weapon, or motive. But his troubles have just begun: the assassin, quickly discovering that he shot the wrong man, becomes frantic in his search for his target. Hole's search is growing equally frantic, and he finds himself on a chase that leads into the darkest corners of the former Yugoslavia. But it's when he returns to Oslo that he encounters true darkness: among the homeless, the junkies, and the Salvationists, eagerly awaiting their savior--whether he brings new life or immediate death. With its shrewdly vertiginous narrative, acid-etched characters, and white-hot pace, The Redeemer is resounding proof of Jo Nesbø's standing among the best crime writers of our time.
Translated by Don Bartlett.